RIDA drills 65 boreholes in Chipinge under the Pre...

RIDA drills 65 boreholes in Chipinge under the Presidential rural development programme

Zim Now Writer

The Presidential rural development programme has, through the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency, formerly known as the District Development Fund, drilled 65 boreholes in Chipinge District, an engineer with the programme has said.

RIDA water engineer for Chipinge, Collen Kazembe said they are targeting to drill 100 boreholes in the district by year-end, adding that each ward will get a borehole.

“As RIDA. we had a target to drill 100 boreholes under the Presidential rural development programme this year. To achieve this, RIDA is also partnering other development partners in making sure that every village has access to water under the water and sanitation programme.”

He added on to say: “Of the 65 boreholes drilled, seven solar-powered boreholes are being used to irrigate community gardens to improve nutrition.”

Kazembe added that access to water has increased to 1 268 points in the district.

He added that out of the total of 1 268 boreholes, 1 198 are functional while 70 are being rehabilitated.

Of this number, Kazembe said, there are 113 piped water schemes while five boreholes are gravity-fed.

“We are facing transport challenges due to shortage of vehicles to execute our duties. Currently, there are no standby vehicles to finish the work we started. There are some wards where pipes were eroded by salty water and these areas need to be rehabilitated,” he added.